Two Types of Yarrow to Grow in a Cut Flower Garden

These two flowers look completely different, but they’re both yarrow.

One gives you flat clusters of flowers in eye-catching, dramatic colors in just about any shade you’d want for a summer bouquet.

And the other type of yarrow looks like baby’s breath with dreamy, airy little white flowers on thin stems.

Together they form a strong base of filler flowers for bouquets, whether you want a wildflower look or something more refined and subtle.

Not to mention both are low-fuss perennials that come back stronger every year.

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I started both these yarrows from seed in 2024 intending to try them out before committing to one or the other, but I fell in love with both and have allowed both to stay.

I can’t imagine my garden without them.

I’m sharing my experience growing, cutting, and arranging both types of yarrow—Achillea millefolium (common yarrow) and Achillea ptarmica (pearl yarrow)—from my zone 6 Indiana cutting garden.

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What Makes Yarrow Such a Good Cut Flower

Yarrow hits the 3 P’s for me: it’s productive, perennial, and practical.

I love yarrow because it produces countless stems of flowers from late spring through early summer and sporadically again throughout the rest of the growing season.

They have proven their merit year after year being easy to grow and useful in the vase.

Both Achillea millefolium and Achillea ptarmica are:

• long-lasting in and out of the vase
• beautiful as dried flowers
• drought-tolerant
• attractive to pollinators
• easy to propagate
• inexpensive to grow from seed
• rabbit resistant (fingers crossed!)
• great fillers for bouquets

If you’re not growing yarrow for cut flowers yet, you’re missing out!

Need help with your flowers? Take a look at my Cut Flower Gardening Beginner’s Guide featuring all my best posts on cut flower gardening.

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Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Common yarrow or Achillea millefolium is the type of yarrow most of us are familiar with.

It has ferny foliage and flat, dense flower clusters that come in a range of colors from yellow to peach to pink to white.

The wide flower heads are perfect to fill out bouquets and add lots of bulk with just a few stems.

This yarrow helps tell the color story for each arrangement. It’s easy to find just the right shade to complement other flowers.

Pinks in particular are the most useful. I can use a peachy pink or pale yellow to go with my orange snapdragons. A cool pink to go with pastel blue delphiniums. Or I can grab deep magenta pink that stands up to the bold blue and purple hues of my self-seeded larkspur.

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I chose the variety “Summer Berries“ because it runs the gamut of berry colors from cherry to bubblegum.

I’m also growing Firefly Peach Sky Yarrow for its perfectly peachy orange color, though these can only be bought as plants and not seed.

In my zone 6 Indiana garden, common yarrow typically blooms from May through July, with some sporadic re-bloom later in the season if kept cut.

The bloom window is long enough that the flowers remain pristine on the plant for weeks allowing me to cut at whim.

Weather permitting, yarrow makes up the bulk of my late spring bouquets with larkspur and snapdragons and is still around when zinnia season hits.

It can be dried for use in the fall and winter as well.

For the best stems, plant common yarrow in full sun and lean, well-drained soil. Don’t make the mistake I did and plant it in clay soil that stays soggy long after a rain or the plant will rot!

See more of my favorite perennials to grow besides yarrow in this post: 21 Best Perennial Flowers and Shrubs for Cut Flower Gardens.

Pearl Yarrow (Achillea ptarmica)

Pearl yarrow has a completely different look from common yarrow. To me it looks a lot like baby’s breath, or gypsophila.

Rather than having dense, flat clusters of colorful flowers, Achillea ptarmica is airy and open with branching stems covered in small white pompom blooms.

I grow Double Diamond Pearl Yarrow. It has bright white sprays of pom-pom-like blooms on strong stems that get around 24 inches long on average.

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Cutting more stems and keeping the plant deadheaded will cause it to keep producing new flowers throughout the season. After the first cut, new stems will branch out from below and grow, though the stems will be shorter than the first.

Cut deep to keep the new stems stable!

In my experience, Double Diamond produces more flowers over the growing season than common yarrow with consistent cutting.

Pearl yarrow dries beautifully with the flowers aging from bright white to a parchment or creamy color.

See my post Tips and Tricks for Fall Flower Arrangements to get ideas for arranging with fall flowers.

Growing Notes for Pearl Yarrow

One thing to note is that this yarrow is a spreader and vigorous grower. Check to make sure it’s not invasive where you live.

I started with 6 tiny plants in a 2 foot by 1 foot space and they’ve now extended to a 3 foot by 1.5 foot space (give or take).

It has not wreaked as much havoc as mint in my garden, but I’ve discovered it grows easily from small bits of roots transplanted here and there.

I pull some out by the roots once a year to keep the plant in check. You can also divide thick clumps every 3 years to keep the plant healthy and vigorous.

For the best stems, keep the soil lean and the plant in full sun. Over-fertilizing will cause floppy, leggy stems (as I discovered my first year growing it).

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Common Yarrow vs. Pearl Yarrow: Side-by-Side Comparison

Why You Should Grow Both

I think both are worth growing if you have the space for it.

Both are fillers but have different vibes and create a different look in arrangements.

Common yarrow is colorful and dense, adding bulk and weight to bouquets. It’s excellent paired with wildflower-type blooms like daisies and rudbeckia. I rely on this yarrow when I need to anchor a color scheme.

Pearl yarrow is delicate and airy. It looks great with focal flowers like roses and peonies, and its white color goes with just about anything. Using pearl yarrow softens the look of bouquets due to its more free nature.

Find more of my favorite filler flowers in this post to create the lushest bouquets.

Both begin flowering during the bloom gap between late spring and summer and will help keep your vases full. I’m always on the lookout for perennials and annuals that fill this void when the spring bulbs are done and before the summer annuals kick in.

I like to have options when it comes to bouquets and having both types of yarrow available allows me to create different bouquet styles more easily.

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How I Grow Yarrow in My Zone 6 Garden

Here’s how I maintain both types of yarrow in my Indiana backyard cutting garden.

With the exception of Firefly Peach Sky Yarrow, I started my two types of yarrows from seed (Summer Berries Yarrow and Double Diamond Pearl Yarrow) in late February and planted them out around my last frost date in April.

For more on my seed starting process, read my guide to indoor seed starting. Yarrow can also be winter sown in jugs if you don’t want to bother with indoor seed starting.

Most seed packets recommend starting yarrow 8 weeks before your last frost date. Yarrow can handle cooler temperatures, so you can reasonably risk planting sooner than your last frost date if you need to.

Seedlings can be spaced 9-12 inches apart. Use the closer spacing for a more full look right away or the wider spacing to make a few plants fill a larger space.

Both types of yarrow will bloom in the first year and should return stronger the following year.

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Yarrow are typically short-lived perennials, lasting 3 or so years before fizzling out. Letting some plants self-seed every other year keeps the flowers coming year after year without needing to start over from scratch.

In the spring, thin out volunteer seedlings so they don’t become crowded or transplant extras to new spots to establish a new patch.

Not much special care is needed to prolong vase life. Strip leaves off the stems (they’re the first to yellow and age) and keep your vase water clean. Read this post for more tips to make fresh cut flowers last longer.

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It’s Your Turn to Grow

Which yarrow do you like best: common yarrow or pearl yarrow? I’d love to hear which you’re growing now or which you’re adding to your garden!

Yarrow is such a carefree, wonderful flower to grow. Even if you never cut it for the vase, it’ll bring plenty of color and life to your garden.

Ready to keep building out your cut flower garden? Take a look at some of my other favorite filler flowers, or browse my list of perennial cut flowers to see what other low-maintenence plants you can grow at home.